LV council briefs for July 17, 2003

Thursday, July 17, 2003 | 9:37 a.m.

Deal made for wall in alley

The Las Vegas City Council on Wednesday approved an encroachment agreement with prominent attorney John Moran Jr. to build a wall on a portion of the city-owned alley behind his downtown law offices to shield his parking lot.

Moran requested the encroachment in the wake of the city's decision not to build a planned garage on the site near Garces Avenue and Fourth Street.

As part of the agreement, Moran will remove the wall at his own expense if the city later needs the full alley for a future city project.

The city owns the other properties on the block that encompasses Garces, Third Street, Bonneville Avenue and Fourth Street.

Sign-approval rules changed

The City Council approved an ordinance that gives its staff more power to approve signs for smaller projects such as strip malls and small shopping centers.

Without comment, the council approved the measure that updates sign review procedures that deal with commercial signs on buildings but does not include billboards or political signs.

The way the original ordinance was written nearly every on-premise commercial sign proposal had to come before the City Council for a vote, forcing developers of small projects to face several repetitive hurdles before getting final approval.

The new ordinance requires only the signs for projects of 15 acres or larger -- such as large shopping centers -- to be approved by the City Council. Under the old ordinance, projects of 2 1/2 acres or more had to be council-approved.

Plans negotiated for MASH site

The City Council approved a proposal to allow its staff to enter into negotiations with USA HELP, one of the nation's largest builders of transitional housing, to construct low-income apartments on the old MASH Village site.

If a deal can be struck for the abandoned city-owned property at 1559 N. Main St., it would be the third transitional housing project in Southern Nevada for the New York-based organization, which has more than 2,300 transitional housing units nationwide and nearly 200 in Las Vegas.

Founded in December 1995, the MASH shelter closed in October when its California-based management team could no longer keep up with the cost of maintenance and repairs. The pink prefabricated building that served as the shelter would be demolished at a cost not to exceed $200,000, as previously approved by the council.

The council approved the measure as part of the consent agenda -- items deemed routine and approved by a single vote without discussion.

If a deal is reached with USA HELP the measure will come back to the council for approval.